Readings

SES # TOPICS READINGS
Unit 1: Introduction to Studies in Science, Technology, and Society
1 Introduction to Content and Format of the Class Downes, Kieran. "What is STS?"
2 Introduction to Key Words and Concepts Marx, Leo. "Technology: The Emergence of a Hazardous Concept." Technology and Culture 51, no. 3 (2010): 561–77.
3 Current Examples of STS Questions No readings
4 Introduction to key words and concepts (cont.)

Marx, review of In Context;

Buy at MIT Press Marx, Leo, and Merritt Roe Smith, eds. "Introduction". In Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. MIT Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780262691673. [Preview with Google Books]

Autour, and Dorn. "How Technology Wrecks the Middle Class?" The New York Times, August 24, 2013.
5 STS at MIT Buy at MIT Press Williams. Chapter 2 in Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change. MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780262731638. [Preview with Google Books]
6 STS at MIT (cont.) No readings
7 Quiz No readings
Unit 2. MIT and the Law: The Prosecution of Aaron Swartz
8 The Swartz Case and the Abelson Report

Abelson, Hal, Peter Diamond, et al. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.MIT and the Prosecution of Aaron Swartz (PDF - 5.0MB). July 26, 2013.

Please read the entire body of the report, Parts I through V. Also read Appendices 3, 6, and 8–11. You can skip the other appendices.
9 Public Responses

Lin, Leon. "In Swartz Case, MIT 'hands off,' report says," The Tech, August 7, 2013.

Swartz, John. "M.I.T. Cleared in Report After Suicide of Activist," New York Times, July 30, 2013.

Cohn, Cindy. "MIT in Aaron Swartz Case: Not Neutral, Not Leading, Not Standing Up for Technologists," July 31, 2013.
10 Visit from Hal Abelson No readings
11 Editing exercise No readings
12 Science and Self-regulation No readings
13 Legal Issues (cont.) No readings
14 Science and Self-regulation (cont.) Further research into Asilomar Conference of 1975 or Cambridge City Council resolutions of 1976
Unit 3: Photography as Information Delivery System
15 Photography as technological innovation Lane, Anthony. "Names and Faces: The Portraits of Julia Margaret Cameron," The New Yorker, September 2, 2013.
16 Users, Consumers, and Producers

Bauwens, Michel. "A Critique of 3D Printing as a Critical Technology."

Olivier, M. "George Eastman's Modern Stone-Age Family: Snapshot Photography and the Brownie." Technology and Culture 48, no. 1 (2007): 1–19.
17 From Analog to Digital No readings
18 Photography as Time Travel No readings
19 Photography and Science No readings
20 Student project due  
Unit 4: The Sense of an Ending
21 Where Are We Headed? No readings
22 Where Are We Headed? (2) (cont.) Isaacson, Walter. "Legacy." Chapter 42 in Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster, 2011. ISBN: 9781451648539. [Preview with Google Books]
23 A Deaf Utopia and Other Utopias No readings
24 Back to the Beginning: What Is STS? No readings
25 Endings and beginnings No readings
26 Endings and beginnings (cont.) No readings